


Downside Up

by Rachael Sabotini (wickedwords)



Category: National Treasure Series
Genre: Gen, Pre-Series, Yuletide, Yuletide 2005
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-25
Updated: 2005-12-25
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedwords/pseuds/Rachael%20Sabotini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley is talked into joining Ian and Ben in pursuit of a long-lost treasure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Downside Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jeanny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeanny/gifts).



> This was written for Jeanny for yuletide 2005. Thanks to elynross and sherrold for the beta.

October, 2002  
  
No matter what anyone said, Riley Poole didn't believe in aliens because he'd watched too many episodes of the X-Files. No, he believed in them because they made empirical, logical sense. How else could the pyramids have been built? he asked the girl down in accounting. Do you think that the Great Wall of China was built solely with hand tools? he scoffed to the guy in the coffee room. And what about the menhir columns in France? he asked the building receptionist. You think there's no special significance to those?  
  
That was the downside of talking about aliens, though: people at work tended to avoid him. Riley considered himself a fairly amiable guy, a real joiner -- for a computer genius, anyway. Admittedly, their scale was a bit more constrained than that for the general population, but as it was, Riley considered he scored exceptionally high on the socialization scale. People might look at him weird when he said he was going to cash in some of his stock and use the proceeds to visit "Mystery Park", but at least he _had_ vacation plans, right? He was a _very_ social guy.  
  
So social, he even joined the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Society, though it was mostly to keep up with von Daniken's latest theories and publications. And he kept his autographed copy of _The Eyes of the Sphinx_ on his allotted bookshelves at work, right next to his collection of McDonald's Power Ranger toys.  
  
Okay, so he'd bought the book on eBay, but no one had to know that, did they? Face it, compared to the rest of the staff at Sequential Data, he was as normal as they came.  
  
That was why he was a little weirded out when Benjamin Franklin Gates and Ian Howe wanted to meet him. They didn't seem to have a lot in common. Gates admitted up front that he was a little preoccupied with American history, just like everyone in his family, and Howe... Well. Howe was filthy rich.  
  
"Passionate." Ben set his beer down and looked at Riley. "I am passionate about history. Technically, I'm not obsessed."  
  
"Oh, right, sure." Riley nodded as if that made any sort of sense. The noise in the restaurant made them lean in close to one another, and Riley could feel Ben's breath on his ear as he spoke. "Maybe you prefer the term 'focused'?"  
  
Riley Poole knew about focus. Not 'focus' as defined by one of those stupid little martial arts thingies that seemed popular among the guys in security, but the focus that comes from interest and intensity and the need to figure something out. Late night focus, where the whole world went away except for you and the code you were working on, when your fingers flew across the keyboard without even thinking about it, constructing, building, bending the machine to your will.  
  
He loved that high. And even though Ben's thing seemed to be history, rather than computers, he could see that Ben knew about it. Riley wondered what he'd done that had given him that perfect moment, that focused, obsessive high.  
  
"I, on the other hand, am obsessed." Howe said, taking a drink from his Guinness, his face lit up in an easy smile. "Obsessed with money, and how to get it." Riley had worked for a guy like him once, easy going and friendly -- right up to the point where he stabbed you in the back. Riley didn't trust him at all.  
  
"So, what, you're planning a start-up history company or something? Let me tell you, the dot com boom is over. No one is making money off of anything like that." Riley had the worthless stock certificates to prove it.  
  
"No." Ben shot a quick glance at Howe. "We have something a little different in mind."  
  
"But part of it is computer related, which is why we need you."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
Ben cleared his throat. "We did some research into computer simulations for predicting the drift of large masses given particular--"  
  
"You mean the flying saucer thing?" Riley picked up another three or four of the coconut shrimp off the appetizer plate and popped them into his mouth. "I made that four, five years ago, for this group that was figuring out where this alien spaceship might have landed in Russia in the fifties." He rolled his eyes at the look Howe gave him. "Alright, where this big meteor might have landed. That's what the CIA called it, too."  
  
"Have some more shrimp," Ben said. "They're pretty good."  
  
It's true, they were. And Howe was paying. Riley had another shrimp half-way to his mouth when he thought of something. "Hey, wait a minute. The CIA confiscated that program, and all supporting documents. How do you know about it?"  
  
"I have my sources," Howe said mysteriously.  
  
Oh, right. Fucking rich.  
  
"The point is," Ben glanced at Howe with a look that clearly said 'don't scare the children', "we need you to run another simulation for us."  
  
"What are you looking for?" He reached for another shrimp, but the plate was empty. He glanced at Howe, who was shoving the last one in his mouth and grinning unrepentantly.  
  
"A boat." Ben's head bounced back and forth a little, like that wasn't quite the word he was looking for. "A ship, actually. One about two hundred years old. The _Charlotte_. She was lost right after the Revolutionary War."  
  
"I don't have the data for that," Riley sputtered, but his mind was already whirling through possibilities. "I'd need to know the size of the ship, the size of the crew, the kind of cargo it would have held, where it disappeared, prevailing wind patterns, any sort of unusual tidal events or-- Jeeze, a lot of stuff."  
  
"Ben can get that for you." Howe nodded in Ben's direction. "He lives for that kind of research."  
  
Ben snorted. "I know it's going to take a while--"  
  
"A couple of years, if I worked at it full-time. This isn't something I can do moonlighting, you know." He hunched his shoulders just thinking about it. "I don't even have the equipment for something like this. At least, not anymore."  
  
"Ah, now that's where I come in." Howe reached down and pulled out a checkbook, filling out the paper in neat, crisp handwriting. "This is a down payment on your time. You give me a list of the equipment you need, and I'll make sure you get it."  
  
He thrust the check at Riley. Wow, he hadn't seen that kind of money since... Well, ever. Now he knew Howe was shady and not to be trusted. Still, money. He picked up the check. Even if the deal fell through in a few months, this was a lot better than Sequential paid him.  
  
"What is this about? Why the _Charlotte_?"  
  
"The treasure of the ages, my friend." Howe finished off the last of his beer and set it down. "Once you get Ben started, he'll give you an earful about it."  
  
Ben took that as his cue. "Originally, the Knights Templar..."  
  
Riley listened as Ben talked about the treasure taken from all the ancient civilizations of the world, and how the Templars decided that it was too much for one man, even a King. His eyes lit up, his hands sketching out each detail as he talked, and his excitement was contagious. Riley glanced at Howe and noticed how indulgent he looked, like this was his most favorite TV program ever, even if it was a little stupid.  
  
Riley knew better than to take a job where the idea guy and the money man didn't get along, so seeing Howe smile like that was a very good sign. By the time Ben was talking about the Masons, and how his family became involved, Riley was totally sold.  
  
"Cool!" Riley said as Ben started winding down. "Treasures of the Ancient Civilizations, huh." Hell, he could out-sell von Daniken with a book title like that. "Do you think that there might be evidence of alien visitation?"  
  
"It's possible," Ben said slowly. He didn't give Riley the fish-eye for saying it, and Riley appreciated it. He seemed the kind of guy who might have received the fish-eye once or twice himself, and so didn't give them out. Riley respected that.  
  
"That's good enough for me." Riley crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair with a sigh. What did it matter that his start-up stocks had tanked? Here was his Shangri-la, the thing he'd been searching for all his life and it was finally, finally in reach. He held out his hand, shaking with Howe, then with Ben. "Count me in."  
  
Cash up front, new equipment, the treasure of the ages, possible evidence of blue-skinned aliens on Earth, and popcorn shrimp. Riley grinned. There was just no downside in this.

THE END  



End file.
